1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus with web server functions, a control method therefor, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the dissemination of the Internet, PCs with web browser functions are generally widespread. Accordingly, many network devices, such as printers, copiers, facsimile machines and routers, have web server functions. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-92262 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-7095, a user can obtain information of these network devices and configure settings therefor by accessing these network devices using a browser installed on a PC and operating a displayed web page, without installing special applications. Furthermore, instructions for a copy job and a print job can also be issued remotely via the browser using such web server functions.
However, the aforementioned conventional techniques have the following problems. For example, with the aforementioned conventional techniques, in the case where a user has issued an instruction for a print job from a browser, it is not possible to identify from which browser the job has been input. Therefore, a device that does not have user management functions cannot recognize which job has been executed through which user instruction, and thus cannot appropriately manage jobs and display of browsers viewed by users.
For example, in the case of an email transmission function for scanned images that requires a user to issue a scan instruction to a device multiple times during one job, another user may cancel the job while the original user is issuing the scan instruction from a browser. This could possibly occur when another user configures settings using an operation unit of the device or another browser. In this case, if another user further issues an instruction for another job, the job being displayed on the browser viewed by the original user differs from the job being processed by the device. However, even if such a contradiction has occurred, conventional techniques allow the original user to operate, from the browser, the job of another user currently being processed by the device, thereby yielding a job result that does not conform with the intention of another user.
One possible way to prevent the foregoing situation is to inhibit job control from another browser and the operation unit of the device during operation of a job via one browser. In this case, however, the inhibition of job control by another user cannot be lifted until a job instruction source performs a cancel operation or an input completion operation. That is to say, for example, in the case where a user who issued a job instruction has closed a browser during operation, another user cannot perform job operations on the device until a timeout mechanism and the like function.